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Perseverance Detects Visible-Wavelength Aurora on Mars

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Mars hosts various auroral processes despite the planet’s tenuous atmosphere and lack of a global magnetic field. To date, all aurora observations have been at ultraviolet wavelengths from orbit. In a new paper, planetary scientists describe the discovery of green visible-wavelength aurora, originating from the atomic oxygen line at 557.7 nanometers (nm), detected with the SuperCam and Mastcam-Z instruments on NASA’s Perseverance rover.

The first visible-light image of green aurora on Mars (left), taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument on NASA’s Perseverance rover. On the right is a comparison image of the night sky of Mars without aurora but featuring the Martian moon Deimos. The moonlit Martian night sky, lit up mostly by Mars’ nearer and larger moon Phobos (outside the frame) has a reddish-brown hue due to the dust in the atmosphere, so when green auroral light is added, the sky takes on a green-yellow tone, as seen in the left image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / SSI.

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Perseverance Detects Visible-Wavelength Aurora on Mars

Mars hosts various auroral processes despite the planet’s tenuous...
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Mars hosts various auroral processes despite the planet’s tenuous atmosphere and lack of a global magnetic field. To date, all aurora observations have been at ultraviolet wavelengths from orbit. In a new paper, planetary scientists describe the discovery of green visible-wavelength aurora, originating from the atomic oxygen line at 557.7 nanometers (nm), detected with the SuperCam and Mastcam-Z instruments on NASA’s Perseverance rover.

The first visible-light image of green aurora on Mars (left), taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument on NASA’s Perseverance rover. On the right is a comparison image of the night sky of Mars without aurora but featuring the Martian moon Deimos. The moonlit Martian night sky, lit up mostly by Mars’ nearer and larger moon Phobos (outside the frame) has a reddish-brown hue due to the dust in the atmosphere, so when green auroral light is added, the sky takes on a green-yellow tone, as seen in the left image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / SSI.

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